Last week, The Post published a front-page story accusing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) of “embellishing” his family history — questioning his claim that he was the “son of exiles” when his parents had in fact arrived before Fidel Castro took power, not after, as he had previously claimed. “[T]he Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts,” Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia wrote. “Embellish” also appears in the headline.

In using that term, Roig-Franzia was accusing Rubio not simply of being mistaken but of lying (an “account” cannot embellish itself). Yet his article offers no evidence that Rubio deliberately misled anyone or that he knew his parents arrived before Castro took power but said otherwise. Democrats have pounced on The Post’s unfounded accusation to question Rubio’s honesty and character.